A new league table cataloguing the degree subjects that attract the best candidates shows the most popular courses, law and business, do not attract the brightest students, ranking respectively 45 and 85 out of the 170 courses covered.

The life of Barry Nicholas was dominated by Brasenose College, Oxford, of which he was principal from 1978 to 1989. Yet that life was never narrow, and its influence spread across continents and many generations of Brasenose alumni.